# Improvement Proposal — Real-Time Disconnect Edge Cases in Definition of Ready

## Proposal ID

EVOLVE-20260603-002

## Scope

upstream-candidate

## Source Project

ai-development-team-agent-pack (Scrum Poker App — Epic 3, Story 5)

## File To Update

- `./.ai/checklists/definition-of-ready.md`

## Current Problem

The Definition of Ready checklist has no prompt for identifying connection-state edge cases in real-time or WebSocket features. These edge cases (participant disconnects, reconnects, stale presence state) are consistently discovered mid-sprint rather than during refinement, causing scope creep and blocking stories that assumed clean connection state.

## Evidence

Scrum Poker App Epic 3 (Real-Time Presence): Stories 1–4 were completed in Sprints 1–2. Story 5 — "away participants excluded from the 'everyone has voted' check" — was discovered mid-sprint as a gap only after the disconnect indicator was built. The original story for disconnect detection did not ask whether downstream logic (vote reveal gating) correctly handled the disconnected state. Story 5 entered the backlog as `Proposed` and was not scheduled, leaving a functional gap that a refinement question would have surfaced.

## Proposed Change

Add a conditional item to the Definition of Ready checklist:

```markdown
- [ ] **If real-time or WebSocket feature:** disconnect, reconnect, and stale-presence scenarios are identified and either in scope or explicitly deferred.
```

Insert after the existing `- [ ] Risks are identified` line.

## Why This Generalizes

Any collaborative or multiplayer application with live presence (chat, voting tools, collaborative editors, dashboards) will encounter these edge cases. The question is domain-neutral: "what happens when a participant drops?" This belongs at the refinement gate so it is never accidentally scoped out.

## Benefit

- Teams identify disconnect/reconnect scope during refinement, not mid-sprint.
- Blocking dependencies between real-time stories are visible before sprint planning.
- Reduces the risk of shipping presence features with silent gaps in connection-state logic.

## Risk

Low. The item is conditional and explicitly scoped to real-time features. It will not add friction to stories that have no real-time component.

## Rollback Plan

Remove the added checklist item from `definition-of-ready.md`. No other files are affected.

## Validation

The change is working when:
- Real-time stories entering a sprint have an explicit note in Acceptance Criteria or Notes about disconnect/reconnect handling.
- No mid-sprint scope surprises about connection-state edge cases occur in the next real-time feature.

## Product Owner Approval

Approved

## Promotion Decision

Promote upstream

## Applied Date

2026-06-03

## Baseline Version Impact

Patch